Ah crap, I better elaborate real quick before this thread degenerates any further.

Right now, MMO (read: WoW) boss fights are stinky bad. Everything is timed. This leads to people sitting in a fight staring at the chat screen where notices are displayed every 5 seconds telling them what to do. ("Boss A uses Attack B in 10 seconds, DPS back off")

Now look at Punch-Out, where fights are based on awareness and acuity. Attacks are random, but can be predicted by visual cues on the part of your opponent. This makes for a much more fun and intense gameplay experience, as the player has to devote that much more attention, and it only takes a couple of mistakes to lose.

Think about it.

Problem is you are talking about 'twitch' games, without saying it That's a scary line to cross in the online world.

If you can promise me every single player in our world will have the same latency and connection issues/non-issues, then you have got something.

awareness and acuity are in many cases time and reaction sensitive. There is CERTAINLY a place for it but there are pitfalls as well.

I would bet we'll all be in a much better place in a few years when Copernicus launches as far as internet connection goes, both in customer base and technical progress, but at the same time I would argue that just like you don't 'make a tech play' when creating a monster like this, you don't 'bet' on those things to be in place for your product to be good.

Did it ever occur to you that playing 162 games in 180 days, well 190 games in 208 days + post season, against the best players in the world is hard?

You, being a Yankee fan, know I am not a big Arod fan by any stretch. But he's going to retire, likely, as the greatest hitter to ever play. If he does so, and he does so clean, what can you say?

Ernie Banks never won one, yet he might be one of the most beloved men ever, and rightfully so. If you don't like Alex for any number of reasons besides his ability to play the game then cool, but the guy can play baseball, and for the most part better than anyone alive.

Is he someone I am nervous about walking to the plate in October? Not really, but I'd much rather see about 600 other guys than him.

The things he can do with a bat are almost inhuman...

Ok thread derailed....

BELIEVE me as a guy who watched every teeth grinding and pathetic (lately) game the guy plays...I know he puts up the numbers. He can hit for average, power, steal some bags, and plays a solid 3rd base. Hes a great hitter blah blah blah

both in new york and boston of all places, what happens in october matters most. the regular season might as well be nonexistent. hes failed. hes failed over, and over, and over again. is there anyone else at the position that i'd want? no. do i want someone to beat him until he realizes that winning actually matters? yep.

arod isn't loved because hes a phony, and has ****ty morals amongst a backdrop that doesn't miss a beat. manny ramirez ring a bell?

Problem is you are talking about 'twitch' games, without saying it That's a scary line to cross in the online world.

If you can promise me every single player in our world will have the same latency and connection issues/non-issues, then you have got something.

awareness and acuity are in many cases time and reaction sensitive. There is CERTAINLY a place for it but there are pitfalls as well.

I would bet we'll all be in a much better place in a few years when Copernicus launches as far as internet connection goes, both in customer base and technical progress, but at the same time I would argue that just like you don't 'make a tech play' when creating a monster like this, you don't 'bet' on those things to be in place for your product to be good.

Whatever, just give me one Mr. Sandman or Soda Popinski and I'll play your game.

Oh, and boss fights should be scored or graded, so just killing the boss isn't the be-all end-all of the encounter. People should strive to be perfect. (Anything to keep the fights from getting stale after one kill.)

Problem is you are talking about 'twitch' games, without saying it That's a scary line to cross in the online world.

If you can promise me every single player in our world will have the same latency and connection issues/non-issues, then you have got something.

awareness and acuity are in many cases time and reaction sensitive. There is CERTAINLY a place for it but there are pitfalls as well.

I would bet we'll all be in a much better place in a few years when Copernicus launches as far as internet connection goes, both in customer base and technical progress, but at the same time I would argue that just like you don't 'make a tech play' when creating a monster like this, you don't 'bet' on those things to be in place for your product to be good.

comment on the ping-related issue you brought up.

barding in EQ, for instance, didn't require that you had a low latency, but if you did, you could 4twist your way into any group or guild.

quake - you have a lower ping, you tend to do better than other players initially, but people with higher pings can definitely read the situation and predict ahead. it's about working with your restrictions to become better at whatever part of the game you're playing.

time-based bosses, scripted events, i think that's gotten a bit stale (laughing at the new FF boss fights taking 20+ hours with no end in sight). wow has a share of the market, but are you genuinely trying to take the genre in a new direction where personal skill would outweigh designing a game to the masses of poor ISP choices and bad PC builds...?

Funny you say that.....I was in a room a few years ago in Vegas, Curt was doing a bunch of interviews for us that day, and one of the guys doing one of the remote interviews asked Curt if the blood on his sock was real. Man did he look PISSSED. Soon as they cut off air, I heard some awesome ****. Curt laid down the verbal lumber on that guy. As I think back now, I bet that reporter was Conseco, cuz that guy is a huge ****ing douche nozzle.